Spring biased ear ring with means varying the pressure of the spring



Oct. 15, 1957 R. c. BANGS 2,809,501

SPRING BIASED EAR RING WITH MEANS VARYING THE PRESSURE OF THE SPRING Filed June 25, 1953 ATTORNEY SPRING BIASED EARRING WITH MEANS VARY- ING THE PRESSURE OF THE SPRING Ralph C. 'Bangs, Providence, R. 1., assignor to Cor-0, Inc., a-corporation of Rhode Island Application June 25 1953,.SerialNo. 364,010

z'Claims. (Cl. 63-44) The present invention relates to the jewelry art, and has particular reference =to a' novel construction for an earring ear .wire.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an ear wire having an ear lobe engaging member with adjustable tension.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ear wire having a section secured to an ornamental member and a second section pivotally secured thereto and having an ear lobe engaging element, said section being adjustably resiliently urged to ear-lobe engaging position.

A further object is to provide an ear wire having a section with an ear lobe engaging element, said section being spring urged into ear lobe engaging position and said spring having manually adjustable tensioning means.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a manually adjustable tensioning device for a spring pressed ear wire with a limit stop for preventing tensioning of the spring element beyond its elastic limit.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front view of an illustrative ornamental earring embodying an ear wire of the novel construction;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side view of Fig. l, the parts being in ear lobe gripping relation;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the ear wire parts of Fig. 3, the parts being in closed relation;

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 4, the parts being in open relation;

Figs. 6 and 7 are detail sections on the lines 66 and 7-7 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a sectional detail similar to Fig. 4, showing a modified spring tension control;

Fig. 9 is a side view of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the spring tension con- .'trol element of Fig. 6.

It has been found desirable to provide an earring earwire which is resiliently tensioned to grip an ear lobe, the parts being arranged to permit a manual regulation of the resilient tension. To this end, I form the ear wire with an ornament attaching section, and I pivotally connect an ear lobe gripping section thereto; a spring element is mounted in the ear lobe gripping section to engage a fixed cam element on the ornament attaching section and to selectively snap hold the ear lobe gripping section in closed and in open relation to the ornament attaching section. I further position a manually adjustable tensioning device on the ear lobe gripping section to adjustably tension the spring element, whereby the gripping action on the ear lobe may be initially manually set, or may be adjusted while the earring is mounted on i United States Patent ice '2 the .ear lobe, .the adjustable tensioning device being provided with limitstop .means to preventtensioning of the spring. element beyond. its elastic limit.

Referring to the drawings, the earring 10 comprises an ornament '11 andan ear wire 12, the ear wire being of U-shape as illustratedand including an ornament attaching section 13 which is soldered .or otherwise secured to the ornament :11 and an ear lobe gripping section 14 which ispivotally secured atits lowerend 15 to the lower portion 16 of the ornamentsection 13.

As illustrated, the section 13 .is in the form of a wire having .twolaterallyextending pivot pins L7, 18, onthe lower portion 16 of the section 13 at a point spaced from but closely .adjacentthe end 19 of .the section 13, said end 19 being :slightly rounded whereby to-provide an upwardly extendingcarn edge as hereinafterito lbe described.

The ear lobe gripping section-14 is ofchannel shape, with a rear portion or back wall 20 and sides 21, 22 provided with extensions 23, 24 at their lower ends which have aligned openings 25, 26 to receive the pivot pins 17, 18, the rear portion being curved at its upper end into a bend 27 and shaped to provide a reversely cupped ear lobe engaging disk 28.

A flat spring 29, see Fig. 4, is provided with intermediate laterally extending pins 30, 31 which seat in aligned openings 32, 33 in the sides 21, 22, the lower end 34 of the spring 29 making engagement with the inner surface of cam edge 19 as clearly shown in Fig. 4. A boss 35 is provided in the rear portion 20, see Fig. 5, and is bored and threaded to receive the threaded stem 36 of an adjusting screw 37. The inner end 37a of the threaded stem functions as a spring engaging surface and contacts the upper end 38 of the flat spring 29 on the rear side thereof for projecting the spring toward and away from the *back wall 20. The screw 37 has an enlarged shank 39 adapted to engage the boss 35 and to function as a limit stop when the screw is threaded inwardly to press the upper spring end 38 inwardly for tensioning the spring, whereby the tensioning is limited end of the spring 29 seats against the inner surface of cam edge 19 of the ornament attaching section 13, and exerts spring pressure on the ear lobe engaging section to urge it inwardly when the parts are in the closed position of Fig. 4, and to urge it outwardly when the parts are in open position as shown in Fig. 5, due to the relative displacement of the lower spring end about the pivotal mounting center. Inward threading movement of the screw 37 increases the pressure on the upper spring end and thus increases the spring tension, and outward threading movement decreases the spring tension, this adjustment being made either before mounting the earring on the ear lobe, or while it is mounted thereon. The gripping action of the ear wire on the ear lobe is therefore readily adjusted to obtain the desired holding action.

If desired, the rear portion 20 may have a vertical slot 40, see Fig. 9, and a block 41 may be slidably mounted in the ear lobe gripping section, see Fig. 8, to press on the upper end of the spring 29, the block 41 having a stem 42 extending through the slot 40 for manual movement, whereby the block 41 may be shifted longitudinally to change the spring tension.

Although I have disclosed specific constructional embodiments of my invention, and a flat spring tensioner, itis obvious that changes in the size, shape and arrangement of the parts, and in the type of spring tensioner used, may be made to meet dilferent earring requirements, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an ear wire, an ornament attaching section having an upright ornament support portion and a lower portion extending rearwardly therefrom and terminating in an upwardly extending cam edge, an ear lobe gripping section comprising an elongated back wall and forwardly extending side walls pivotally secured adjacent their lower extremities to said lower portion adjacent the cam edge thereof, the upper end of said gripping section having an ear lobe engaging part, a flat spring pivotally mounted between said side walls in spaced, substantially parallel relation to said elongated back wall, said spring being mounted intermediate its length and having its lower end in engagement with the inner side of the upwardly extending cam edge, a spring engaging surface making contact with the rear side of said spring above the pivot mounting thereof, means for adjustably projecting said surface against said spring rear side for moving the spring upper end toward and away from said gripping section back wall, whereby to vary the pressure exerted by the spring lower end against said cam edge, said spring engaging surface having a manipulating portion disposed rearwardly of said back wall whereby the gripping tension of the ear wire may be readily adjusted while it is mounted on the wearers lobe.

2. In the combination of claim 1, said projecting means comprising an elongated element extending through said gripping section back wall substantially perpendicular to the plane of said spring, said element being threadably received by said back wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 687,446 Washburn Nov. 26, 1901 893,048 Balzer July 14, 1908 1,992,643 Vidal Feb. 26, 1935 2,230,984 Chernow Feb. 4, 1941 2,557,200 Pujol June 19, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,786 Great Britain June 26, 1913 

